An Open List of My Favorite Album Covers

For my generation, album art for LP vinyl records was an important part of the listening experience. In this post, I salute my favorite album cover art in rock history.

This is my open list of favorite LP album covers. 'Open' means it's a blog post list that is unfinished and it will be edited over time. There are about 30 covers here, but I feel I have barely made a dent in my list. Take a look and let me know what you think.

Led Zeppelin

(Led Zeppelin) 1969

Led Zeppelin's front cover for its debut album, which was chosen by Page, features a black-and-white image of the burning Hindenburg airship, photographed by Sam Shere in May 1937. The image refers to the origin of the band's name itself: When Page, Beck and The Who's Keith Moon and John Entwistle were discussing the idea of forming a group, Moon joked, "It would probably go over like a lead balloon", and Entwistle reportedly replied, "a lead zeppelin!"

Wish You Were Here

(Pink Floyd) 1975

The album's cover images were photographed by Aubrey 'Po' Powell and inspired by the idea that people tend to conceal their true feelings, for fear of "getting burned", and thus two businessmen were pictured shaking hands, one man on fire. "Getting burned" was also a common phrase in the music industry, used often by artists denied royalty payments. Two stuntmen were used (Ronnie Rondell and Danny Rogers), one dressed in a fire-retardant suit covered by a business suit. His head was protected by a hood, underneath a wig. The photograph was taken at the Warner Bros. studios in Los Angeles.

Abraxas

(Santana) 1970

The album cover features the 1961 painting Annunciation by German-French painter Mati Klarwein. According to the artist, it was one of the first paintings he did after relocating to New York City. Carlos Santana reportedly noticed it in a magazine and asked that it be on the cover of the band's upcoming album.

Nevermind (Nirvana) 1991

The Nevermind album cover shows a naked baby boy, alone underwater with a U.S. dollar bill on a fishhook just out of his reach. According to Cobain, he conceived of the idea while watching a television program on water births with Grohl.

A Trick of the Tail (Genesis) 1976

A Trick of the Tail was the band’s first post Gabriel LP, and one of its best. The cover art by the good people at-you guessed it, Hipgnosis-depicts the characters from the songs and is reminiscent of Victorian book illustrations:

There's a Riot Goin' On (Sly and the Family Stone) 1971

The original cover art for Riot featured a red, white, and black American flag with suns in place of the stars. No other text or titles appear on the cover, although Epic executives added a "Featuring the Hit Single 'Family Affair'" sticker to the LP for commercial viability and identification purposes. Family Stone A&R director Steve Paley took the photograph. Three of the custom flags were created: one for Sly, one for Epic Records, and one for Paley. The album was later reissued with a more conventional cover featuring a photograph of Sly in concert, titles and text.

Tres Hombres (ZZ Top) 1973

Tres Hombres (Spanish for "three men") is the third album by ZZ Top. It was released in 1973 and the album entered the top ten while the single "La Grange" reached number 41 on the singles charts. The album cover art for the front and back covers was pretty unremarkable save the use of the Kelly Green. However, the image by Galen Scott of Mexican-Texan meal on the inside spread is legendary.

Kansas (Kansas) 1974

Kansas is the eponymous debut studio album by American progressive rock band Kansas. The album cover depicts abolitionist John Brown in a scene from Tragic Prelude, a mural by Kansas native John Steuart Curry. The original mural is painted on a wall at the Kansas State Capitol in Topeka. The album cover image is severely discolored and cropped to show only a small part of the original painting.

Rubberneck (Toadies) 1994

Rubberneck is the most successful album by American rock band Toadies. It was released in August 1994 on Interscope Records and attained RIAA gold and platinum status in December 1995 and December 1996 respectively. Dan Lightner did the original painting which was used for the cover ... Is the F-Troop dude drowning?

Estudando o Samba (Tom Zé) 1976

Estudando o Samba (Studying the Samba) is a concept album by Brazilian writer/singer Tom Zé, was listed by Rolling Stone Brazil as one of the 100 best Brazilian albums in history. This is the album that made David Byrne’s jaw drop. Byrne said, "His record had the word samba on the cover, but it also had a picture of barbed wire, which made it stand out from all the other samba records which either had pictures of the singers or beautiful women on the cover. So I thought this one seems like it has something slightly different to say than the others."

Blues for Allah (Grateful Dead) 1975

The front cover artwork features an iconic image of a frizzy-haired, fiddling skeleton, wearing a crimson thawb and sunglasses, sitting in the window of an ancient rock wall. The work, titled "The Fiddler", was painted in the summer of 1974 by Phillip Garris, and was awarded both the Gold Medal and the Award of Merit, from the Society of Illustrators. For the cover of the contemporaneous debut album by Kingfish, Garris painted an image with similar elements. (During the Dead's hiatus, Kingfish featured Bob Weir). The back cover art features a similar background with a group portrait of band members, illustrated in relief. Original pressings had a single-sheet insert with lyrics in both English and Arabic.

Yesterdays (Yes) 1975

Yesterdays is the first compilation album by the English progressive rock band Yes, released in February 1975. Yesterdays is the last Yes album to feature cover artwork by Roger Dean until 1980. Dean also designed the art for Fragile, Close to the Edge (1972), and the band's first live album, Yessongs (1973) as well as Tales from Topographic Oceans (1973) and Relayer (1974).

Highway Companion (Tom Petty) 2006

Highway Companion is the third and final solo studio album by American singer-songwriter Tom Petty. Petty has a fine eye for art and illustration, so the cover artwork for this album was created by artist Robert Deyber. Deyber is an American artist (pop surrealist) best known for literal visual portrayals of cliches, euphemisms, and idioms from the English and other languages.

Molly Hatchet (Molly Hatchet) 1978

Molly Hatchet is the self-titled debut album by American southern rock band Molly Hatchet, released in 1978. The cover is a painting by Frank Frazetta entitled 'The Death Dealer'. Fantasy artist Frazetta painted 'The Death Dealer' in 1973 depicting a menacing armor-clad warrior with a horned helmet, whose facial features are obscured by shadow, atop a horse, holding a bloody axe and shield. The image eventually led to spin-offs of varying merchandise, including subsequent paintings of the warrior, novels, statues, a comic book series and additional album covers for Molly Hatchet.

Mystery to Me (Fleetwood Mac) 1973

This was Fleetwood Mac's last album to feature Bob Weston. Most of the songs were penned by guitarist/singer Bob Welch and keyboardist/singer Christine McVie, who were instrumental in gearing the band toward the radio-friendly pop rock that would make them successful a few years later. The album artwork and design was done by Modula, which may point to a view that, even with all our knowledge, we're basically monkeys.

Maggot Brain (Funkadelic) 1971

Maggot Brain is the third studio album by the American funk band Funkadelic. Cover photography by Joel Brodsky, artwork design by The Graffiteria/Paula Bisacca, art direction by David Krieger, and cover model Barbara Cheeseborough. Both beautiful and uncomfortable.

Over-Nite Sensation (Frank Zappa) 1973

The cover of Over-Nite Sensation is absolutely packed with fun details. The illustration credit goes to David McMacken, whose name is on the little plaque at the bottom of the painting. Some of McMacken’s other credits include Kansas’ Leftoverture, the Beach Boys’ Friends, and Journey’s Raised on Radio (logo design).

Crash Landing (Jimi Hendrix) 1975

Crash Landing is a posthumous compilation album by American guitarist Jimi Hendrix.[3] It was released in March and August 1975 in the United States and the United Kingdom respectively. It was the first Hendrix album to be produced by Alan Douglas.

The Last Record Album (Little Feat) 1975

The Last Record Album is the fifth studio album by the American rock band Little Feat, released in 1975. Cover illustration was done by Neon Park who strongly defined covers for nearly every Little Feat album except for the band's self-titled first album. Nods to Hollywood, symbolisms and vague parallels to The Last Picture Show (movie) capture the spirit of the album.

Blood on the Tracks (Bob Dylan) 1975

Bob Dylan's 'Blood on the Tracks' album cover was illustrated by Paul Till based on a photograph he took of Dylan in Toronto in Jan 1974. At the time, Till was doing a lot of darkroom manipulation of photographs as well as hand-colouring. He said. "I was very familiar with Bob Dylan's music and I felt that the combination of darkroom technique and hand colouring echoed the old/new dichotomy of much of his work."

Aqualung (Jethro Tull) 1971

Aqualung is the fourth studio album by the rock band Jethro Tull. The album's original cover art by Burton Silverman features a watercolour portrait of a long-haired, bearded man in shabby clothes. The idea for the cover came from a photograph Anderson's wife took of a homeless man on Thames Embankment, and Anderson later felt it would have been better to have used the photograph rather than commission the painting. Ian Anderson recalls posing for a photograph for the painting, though Silverman claims it was a self-portrait.

Gaucho (Steely Dan) 1980

Gaucho is the seventh studio album by the American jazz rock band Steely Dan. The cover art is based upon a wall plaque entitled "Guardia Vieja – Tango" (Old Guard – Tango), located in a southside Buenos Aires promenade known as Caminito, by Argentine artist Israel Hoffmann. Hal Leonard's Best of Steely Dan explains that Gaucho is "a concept album of seven interrelated tales about would-be hipsters."

Sticky Fingers (The Rolling Stones) 1971

The album's artwork emphasises the suggestive innuendo showing a close-up of a jeans-clad male crotch with the visible outline of a large penis; the cover of the original (vinyl LP) release featured a working zipper and perforations around the belt buckle that opened to reveal a sub-cover image of cotton briefs. While the artwork was conceived by Warhol, photography was by Billy Name and design was by Craig Braun. The album also features the first usage of the "tongue & lips" logo of Rolling Stones Records, originally designed by John Pasche in 1970.

Brain Salad Surgery (Emerson, Lake & Palmer) 1973

Brain Salad Surgery is the fourth studio album by English progressive rock band Emerson, Lake & Palmer. Hans Ruedi Giger painted two pieces entitled Work 217: ELP I and Work 218: ELP II. The first painting was chosen by the group as the front cover. It contained the artist's distinctive monochromatic biomechanical artwork, integrating an industrial mechanism with a human skull and the new 'ELP' logotype, which was also designed by Giger. The lower part of the skull is covered by a circular screen, which displays the mouth and chin in its flesh-covered state, as well as what appears to be the top of a phallus below the chin, arising from the 'ELP' tube.

Honey (Ohio Players) 1975

Honey is the seventh studio album by American band the Ohio Players. Like previous albums by the band, Honey is known for a cover photo that was very racy by the standards of the day. The model was Playboy magazine's October 1974 Playmate of the Month, Ester Cordet. The album won a Grammy Award for Best Album Cover Art. An urban legend surrounded the song "Love Rollercoaster," claiming that the girl on the album cover was stabbed in the studio—when she threatened to sue in connection with supposed skin damages caused by the fake honey used—and that her screams are heard on the song. However, the scream is actually that of keyboardist Billy Beck.

Please let me know in the comments section what I missed … I will update this post periodically. Thanks!